This document reports on the activities of project IRA/88/001, Anzali Lagoon Productivity and Fish Stocks Investigations conducted in Iran by Dr Juraj Holčík, FAO Technical Adviser and Dr János Oláh, FAO Aquatic Pollution Consultant during several missions (seven man/months in five missions for Holčík, and four man/months in five missions for Oláh). The project began on 16 October 1989 and project activities terminated on 7 December 1991. FAO was designated as executing agency of the project, and the Fisheries Department of the Ministry of Jehad-Sazandegi as Government Implementing Agency. The project was realized in the Iranian Fisheries Research and Training Organization, Fisheries Research Centre (FRC) of Gilan Province in Bandar Anzali. Three FRC departments were directly concerned with the implementation of this project which was executed by the three-man National Project team, who continued the research during the absence of the FAO consultants.
Anzali Lagoon (also known in literature as Anzali Mordab, Anzali Bay, Pahlavi Mordab, Pahlavi Bay or Anzali Liman and Enzeliiskii or Pekhleviiskii zaliv, or Enzeliiskii Liman in the Russian literature) is a lagoon connected with the Caspian Sea (Fig. 1). Until the beginning of the 1960s it was important both as a source of fish and as the spawning ground of especially diadromous fishes. According to the statistics, available for 1931–64, the fish catches from 1932 to 1940 varied from 3 100 to 5 700 t and at that time contributed 70% of the total Iranian catch of fish in the Gilan province. The major fish species in the catch were the diadromous kutum (Rutilus frisii kutum), pike-perch (Stizostedion Lucioperca) and bream (Abramis brama), which entered the lagoon in autumn or in spring and spawned there. At the beginning of the 1960s the total catch from the lagoon was only 100 t, i.e., slightly less than 2% of the original catch. The commercial fishery once flourishing in Anzali Lagoon ceased and was replaced by artisanal fishermen and poachers. In summer 1987, an intensive fishery for crayfish (Astacus leptodactylus) was initiated by SHILAT (Iranian Fisheries Company). This yielded around 12 t of crayfish during the first 20 days of trapping, using about 10 000 crayfish traps. Most of the crayfish were exported to Turkey, but part was used for stocking selected reservoirs and lakes. Later, however, the fishing for crayfish was stopped due to fears of overfishing.
At the beginning of this project knowledge of the current fish stocks and fish species composition in Anzali Lagoon was poor. The impact of the rising level in the Caspian Sea needed to be assessed. The narrow outflow from Anzali Lagoon to the Caspian Sea carries some pollution, but the level of this pollution was not known. It was feared that if it were to exceed certain limits, it could effectively function as a barrier for the migratory fish and prevent them from entering or leaving the lagoon.
Apart from being an important finfish and crayfish nursery and grow-out habitat, Anzali Lagoon is also an important bird nesting and wintering ground. The Lagoon used to be listed under the Ramsar Convention (1972) but since there has been no continuing Iranian association with Ramsar for the last ten years, the wetland may consequently have been deleted from the register. Nevertheless, the Lagoon deserves attention also as an important wetland environment at least for Iran (Fig. 2).
Prior to the IRA/88/001 project Soviet and American experts had studied the Lagoon in early 1960s and 1970s respectively. Their reports (Hydrorybproject, 1964; Kimball and Kimball, 1974) described it as a dying reservoir undergoing such profound changes in its environment which could not be reversed. The reasons for this were seen in the fall in level of the Caspian Sea, the almost complete water uptake for irrigation and the heavy siltation resulting in the shallowing of the lagoon, its gradual overgrowth with aquatic macrophytes and increasing eutrophication. Solutions were proposed. However, the attempt to improve the Lagoon showed a conflict of interests, i.e., to increase the arable land area through drainage on one side, and to conserve the fishery and wildlife on the other. The situation demanded clarification of the lagoon's importance for fish and fisheries as well as for wildlife. Based on the recommendation by Petr (1987), a request for this project was submitted to the United Nations Development Programme and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations by the Government of Iran. The project was developed by FAO Headquarters staff, UNDP Resident staff in Teheran and regional personnel.
The project development objective was to prepare for ecologically sound and economically viable management of the long-term fishery development in Anzali Lagoon. The immediate objectives of the project were to:
The appendixes to this report give technical details on the Lagoon and its environment, and on the fish fauna, crayfish and fisheries.
